Fluid responsive control apparatus



y 1949. L. RINGER mm: RESPONSIVE CONTROL APPARATUS 12 Sheets-Shet 1 i Filed May 3, 1943 H I 11' E111 :3 V Ja/Zfie/ Wa er. .LLEW fi May 31, 1949.

Filed May 5, 1943 Patented May 31, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLUID RESPONSIVE CONTROL APPARATUS Application May 3, 1943, Serial No. 485,448

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a fluid responsive control means, and more particularly to means which responds to the rising and falling of the fluid level in a container for controllin the supply and removal of fluid to and from said container, as well as for maintaining the fluid level desired for certain operations to be performed in said container,

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and means for controlling the fluid level in a container such, for example, as the tub of an automatic washing machine or the like, and to utilize the fluid level therein to effect a control of the supply and removal of the fluid to and from the body of the container of such a machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of controlling a series of operations which are dependent upon the level of the fluid in an area in which said operations are to be performed.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a novel means responsive to the height or lack of height of fluid in a container to control the influx or elilux of fluid to or from said container, as well as to exercise a control over certain other operations which depend upon the nature of the fluid level in the container for their initiation.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel type of actuating means for a fluid responsive control mechanism.

It is the aim of this invention to provide a simple control means to be associated with a fluid container in such fashion that the fluid level within the container may be employed to instigate and control the supply and removal of the fluid to and from the container in addition to certain other operations. The device of the instant in-.-

vention finds particularly advantageous application in apparatus such, for example, as an automatic washing, rinsing and drying apparatus, in which such fluid responsive means may be employed in effecting such operations as, supplying the washing or cleansing fluid to the machine, pumping the fluid out of the machine, agitating the fluid and, finally, controlling the operation of an extractor unit employed in the removal of the fluid from the clothes after they are laundered and the fluid is emptied from the machine.

In accordance with the general features of my invention there is provided herein a method which includes the steps of supplying fluid to the area, setting apart a body of fluid from that in said area but maintaining said fluid body in communication with the fluid in said area whereby any rise or fall in the fluid level in said area will be reflected by said fluid body, withdrawing portions of the fluid body at points therein spaced vertically from each other as the fluid level in said area and said fluid body rises and utilizing the portions withdrawn from the fluid body to interrupt the supply of fluid to the area and to initiate those operations which are to be performed when the area is fllled with fluid.

In accordance with still other general features of this invention, there is provided a fluid responsive control means connected to suitable electrical switches and associated with the vessel or container for the storage of fluid therein. The apparatus of the invention operates to open and close said switches directly as a result of the rising or falling of the level of the fluid in the container. It is to be understood that the fluid responsive means of the present invention may be associated in any suitable manner with the vessel or container employed for the storage of the fluid;

.it may, therefore, within the purview of the present invention, be disposed within or without the confines of the vessel or container.

Moreover, the fluid responsive means of the present invention may also be advantageously employed to arrest any ancillary operation to be performed in the vessel or container and depending upon the presence or absence of fluid therein in the event that the fluid level either falls or rises, as the case may be, through an inadvertent loss or accumulation of the fluid. Assuming again, by way of illustration, that the apparatus of the invention is applied to a washing, rinsing and drying machine, it will be apparent that the fluid responsive means of the invention would function, in the event that a quantity of the fluid employed in the washing operation were lost due to splashing, leakage, evaporation, or the like, while the agitator mechanism thereof is operating so that the quantity of fluid will be less than that required for most effective operation, to arrest or stop the agitator, restore the fluid in the machine to the proper operating level and thereafter set the agitator in motion for the remainder of its operating cycle.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description directed to a number of embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view illustrating one embodiment of the invention employing float means in the control mechanism;

Figure 2 represents a plan view, with parts in section and at an enlarged scale, of the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a partial sectional elevation of the apparatus of Figure 2 as seen from the line IIII1I therein;

Figure 4 is a plan view with parts in section and at an enlarged scale of the lowermost fluid responsive control means of the invention as shown in Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a partial sectional elevation of the device of Figure 4 as seen from the line V-V therein.

It is believed that my novel method may be fully understood from the following description of a typical apparatus for practicing the same.

For purposes of illustration, the fluid responsive control means of the present invention have been shown in the accompanying drawings as being applied to an automatic washing, rinsing and drying apparatus in which the operating mechanism is enclosed by a shroud or casing and comprises a container or tub it in the of which is provided a sump H.

The structure of the illustrated embodiment of the present invention employs a pair of reservoirs SI, 52 which are fixed with respect to the vertical standpipe 6d and have disposed theroin suitable float members which are responsive to and actuated by the rising or falling of the fluid level in the container and standpipe sociated therewith.

A standpipe bi! is connected with a connection 65 of sump H by a flexible hose connection 55 communicating with the lowermost port 63 thereof. The port 53 is secured to an opening 61 in the base of a lower reservoir til, which in this case takes the form of a basin by a suitable Water tight joint preferably formed by soldering, or brazing the parts together. Fiexibly suspended within the basin iiii is a float which is preferably sufficiently smaller than the inside dimension of the basin tie that it may be suitably spaced from the outermost walls thereof. A flexible diaphragm 69 supports the float so in the basin 65. Diaphragm G9 is provided with a bead ill on the outer periphery thereof whici'i engages the substantially annular depression l?! in the wall of the basin 6t and bead H on the innermost periphery of diaphragm which similarly engages an annular groove To formed on the outer wall of the float 68.

A vertically extending pin member i i is suitabiy secured to the approximate center of the base of the float member iii; so as to extend up over the uppermost edge of the basin t6 and float 68. A hooked portion iii of the pin it is secured to the arm 75 of a toggle switch which is mounted as by means of the bolts it to an upstanding portion 19 of the bracket 8% secured in any suitable fashion to the inner wall of casing l5. Bracket 8%: also serves to support the basin 66.

The upper unit t2 comprising a basin 66a is identical in construction to that of the lower unit El just described and is likewise supported from a bracket 8% mounted inside the casing 15. The connection between the basin of the upper unit 62 is effected through a port 8! disposed in a standpipe to at a point adjacent the uppermost end thereof and secured to the basin 66a. Since both the basins t6 and 66a are advantageously rigidly secured to standpipe 60 by 4 the ports 63 and SI and said basins are supported by the brackets 80, the standpipe B0 is maintained in a vertical position adjacent to the tub is.

The method of operation of the apparatus of this embodiment of the invention will now be described. Fluid is admitted to the container [6 and rises to a corresponding level in the standpipe 60 connected to said container by the flexible hose connection 64 The fluid, as it rises above the point at which the port 63 is disposed, will enter the basin 66 of the lower unit 6| thereby causing the float member 63 therein to be raised and actuating the lever arm it of the switch 71 by reason of its connection with the pin 14 mounted in the base of the float member 58. This operation of switch Ti may or may not, depending upon the character and setting of the control circuit into which the switch is connected, cause some unit of the apparatus to func tion. As the fluid level continues to rise in the standpipe til, it will, as we have seen, enter the connection 8! and thereafter flll the basin 66a of the upper unit 62 and cause its float B3 to raise actuating the switch ll associated therewith through the pin M and lever arm 75. Again, depending upon the character and setting of the control circuit into which the switch Ti associated therewith is connected, any one of several operations may take place when said last switch I7 is actuated.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of construction may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the ap pended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Fluid responsive means for controlling the level of fluid in a vessel comprising a container, a standpipe extending substantially parallel to the axis of said container and interconnected therewith at the lowermost portion thereof, a plurality of basins disposed at points along said standpipe intermediate its ends corresponding generally with the fluid level desired to be maintained in said container, means for connecting said basins and said standpipe to admit fluid from said standpipe to each of said basins when the fluid level in the container and the interconnected standpipe rises to the level of the connecting means for each of said basins, float means in each of said basins actuated by the rise and fall of the fluid in said container and said standpipe, flexible means for maintaining said float means in said basins without restricting their freedom of movement, switch means for controlling the supply and removal of fluid to and from said container, and means for connecting said float means and said switch means.

2. Fluid responsive means for controlling the fluid level in a vessel comprising a vertical standpipe interconnected with the base of said vessel and extending substantiall parallel to the axis thereof, a pair of fluid basins connected to said standpipe, one of said basins being disposed adjacent the lowermost end of said standpipe and the other adjacent the uppermost end thereof at points generally corresponding to the minimum and maximum fluid levels desired to be maintained in said vessel, each of said basins having a flexible upper wall includin float means therein depending into each of said basins to raise and lower with the rise and fall of the fluid level in said basins, switch means associated with each of said basins to control the supply and removal of fluid to and from said vessel dependin upon the nature of the fluid levels therein, and means con meeting said float means and said switch means.

3. Apparatus for actuating a plurality of different controls in response to diflerent predetermined levels of fluid in a. vessel comprising a standpipe adjacent said vessel and in fluid connection with the bottom of said vessel, fluid receivers separate and distinct from said standpipe spaced from said standpipe and disposed at points intermediate the ends thereof, fluid conduits connecting each receiver to said standpipe, each of said receivers having a different one of said controls associated therewith, each of said receivers having a yieldable top wall, the central portion of which extends down into the receiver to be raised and lowered by the flow of fluid into and out of said receive-r, each of said central portions being connected with said control associated therewith to actuate the same.

LUTHER RINGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,066,429 Gustin July 1, 1913 1,269,697 Flirm June 18, 1918 1,663,578 Werner Mar. 27, 1928 1,666,873 Durdin Apr. '7, 1930 1,891,842 Schmid-Dorman Dec. 20, 1932 1,997,121 Rottmann Apr. 9, 1935 2,030,39 Pierce Feb. 11, 1936 2,080,924 Logan May 18, 1937 2,222,595 Regester Nov. 26, 19%0 2,258,360 Hetzer Oct. 7, 1941 2,283,768 Schueler May 19, 1942 2,302,923 Zimarik Nov. 24, 1942 

